Continuous anneal of wire on pulp insulating process

ABSTRACT

SPOOLED HARD WIRE FROM WIRE-DRAWING MACHINE IS FED FROM A PAYOFF TO MEANS FOR APPLYING PAPER PULP INSULATION TO THE WIRE. BETWEEN THE PAYOFF AND THE INSULATIONAPPLYING MEANS THERE IS AN ANNEALER THROUGH WHICH THE WIRE PASSES AND IN WHICH THE WIRE IS ANNEALED AS A CONTINUOUS OPERATION WITH THE APPLICATION OF THE INSULATION. IN THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT THE ANNELER IS GAS-FIRED AND GENERATES ITS OWN INERT ATMOSPHERE. THE COST AND SCRAP OF BATCH AND ELECTO ANNEALING ARE ELIMINATED.

Sept. 18, 1973 E. M. KANE 3,759,755

CONTINUOUS ANNEAL OF WIRE ON PULP INSULATING PROCESS Filed Nov. 9, 1970 INPUT I00. I U 1) QUTPUT CAPSTAfy 4 48 EAPSTAN 70 3 K -24 -28-- Q 50 ELECTROLYTIC CLEANER WET MACHINE I2 PULP INSULATOR I HARD WIRE SPOOLER I WIRE DRAWING MACHINE 35? INVENTOR M WW BY M ATTORNEYS.

United States Patent O1 hoe 3,759,755 Patented Sept. 18, 1973 US. Cl. 14811.5 R Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Spooled hard wire from a wire-drawing machine is fed from a payoff to means for applying paper pulp insulation to the wire. Between the payoff and the insulationapplying means there is an annealer through which the Wire passes and in which the wire is annealed as a continuous operation with the application of the insulation. In the preferred embodiment the annealer is gas-fired and generates its own inert atmosphere. The cost and scrap of batch and electro annealing are eliminated.

BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Wire used for electrical conductors is work-hardened when it is reduced in diameter in Wire-drawing machines. It is necessary to anneal the wire before applying electrical insulation. The common commercial practice has been to batch or electro anneal before supplying it to the payoff stand of the means that applies the electrical insulation.

The means for applying insulation may be of the type disclosed in Pat. Nos. 1,615,416 and 1,615,425, Jan. 25, 1927.

This invention provides a method and apparatus in which spooled hard wire, in the condition in which it comes from a wire-drawing machine, is placed on the payoff of apparatus that applies insulation to the wire. As the wire is fed continuously to insulation-applying means, the wire passes through an annealer of a length and temperature that is co-ordinated with the speed of operation of the insulation-applying means so that the wire is annealed to the optimum degree of hardness as a continuous operation with the application of the insulation.

One advantage of the invention is that the use of hard wire of higher tensile strength is made practical because of the improved facility for annealing. With batch annealing results are not consistently uniform and considerable effort, special methods and constant control are required to produce soft copper Wire that will pay off without breaking on the apparatus for applying pulp insulation for telephone cable conductors.

This invention obtains more uniform results and at the same time eliminates the cost of batch annealing and eliminates the scrap that results from the non-uniform results of the batch annealing and hard ends from electro annealing. It avoids breaks such as occur on the payoff spools from sticky wire encountered with batch annealing.

This invention interposes an electrically heated or gasfired annealer between the payoff reels and the wire cleaner at the beginning of the insulation-applying apparatus. Hard Wires which have higher tensile strength are supplied from the wire-drawing machine to the payofl. The annealer has an inert atmosphere and the atmosphere is preferably supplied by using gas-fired burners for heating the annealer. At the annealing temperature the atmosphere of the annealer eliminates substantially all of the wire-drawing compounds from the wire and also the scale so as to present a relatively clean wire to the electrolytic wire cleaner at the upstream end of the insulation-applying means.

One advantage of a gas-fired annealer is its ability to produce a controlled atmosphere without the use of special auxiliary equipment such as is necessary for an electrically heated annealer.

Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will appear or be pointed out as the description proceeds.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING In the drawing, forming a part hereof, in which like reference characters indicate corresponding parts in all the views:

FIG. 1 is a schematic elevation of apparatus for applying electrical insulation to wire conductors in accordance with this invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view of a part of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a greatly enlarged sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of FIG. 1; and

FIGS. 4 and 5 are sectional views similar to FIG. 3 but taken on the section lines 44 and 55, respectively, of FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT In FIG. I a wire 10 is supplied to a wire-drawing machine 12 of conventional construction and the wire from the machine 12 is supplied to a spooler 14 by which the wire is spooled in the work-hardened condition in which it comes from the Wire-drawing machine 12 and without removing the wire-drawing compound with which the wire is coated when passing through the wire-drawing machine.

Spools 16 of the hard wire are placed on a payoff 18 of apparatus for applying insulation to the wire. From the'payoff 18, wire 10a is withdrawn from the different spools 16 across guide means 20, which are shown as rollers, by an input capstan 24. Although only one strand of the Wire 10a is illustrated in FIG. 1 beyond the guide means 20, it will be understood that the individual wires from the spool 16 are maintained in substantially separate parallel relation to one another as they pass through all of the apparatus of FIG. 1. Only one strand is shown because FIG. 1 is an elevational view.

The input capstan 24 is at the entrance end of an annealer 26. This annealer contains a chamber 28 which is heated by gas burners 30 shown as located directly over the wire 10a in FIG. 1 but which can be at various locations for indirectly heating the chamber 28 in accordance with conventional practice. The gas burners 30 generate a controlled atmosphere within the chamber 28 and the products of combustion escape through a stack 34.

FIG. 1 shows an electrical heating unit 36 for heating a part of the length of the annealer chamber 28 and the electrical heating is regulated by a control device 38 to increase or decrease the heat output of the unit 36.

The burners 30 are shown connected with a header 40 supplied with gas through a pressure regulator 42 and controlled by a valve 44. The heat generated by the burners 30 is adjustable by regulating the composition of the combustible material supplied to the burners, in accordance with conventional practice, and also by regulating the output pressure of the pressure regulator 42 and the degree of opening of the valve 44. The regulator 42 and the valve 44 are merel representative of means for regulating the amount of heat and the intensity of the heat supplied to the annealer chamber 28.

It will be understood that the chamber 28 can be heated entirely by gas-fired burners or entirely by electrical heating units, though in the latter case some other means are necessary for supplying a controlled atmosphere to the chamber 28. Control of the temperature and the heat supply to the annealer chamber 28 is necessary in order to anneal the wire a to the optimum degree of hardness during the time that it remains in the chamber 28, which time is determined by the speed at which the wire travels through the subsequent insulation-applying means. The length of the annealer chamber 28 is coordinated with the speed of operation of the insulationapplying means and with the annealing temperature required for annealing copper, or such other material or alloy as may be used for the wire 10a. Refinements in the co-ordination of the annealing heat with the speed of travel of the wire are then made by adjusting the output of the burners 30 or the heating unit 36.

There is an output capstan 48 at the discharge end of the annealer '26. This output capstan 48, like the input capstan 44, can be of any conventional construction but it is one of the advantages of the invention that the input capstan 24, which pulls the wires from the spools 16 and which subjects the wires to the greater pull and at times to variations in pull, operates on hard wire of greater tensile strength, whereas the capstan 48, which merely moves the wires through the chamber 28, operates on hot and softer wire.

Beyond the capstan 48, the annealed wire indicated by the reference character 10b, passes over other guide means 50 to an electrolytic cleaner 54. This cleaner, which is also of conventional construction, removes any foreign matter from the wire but the amount of cleaning which must be done by the electrolytic cleaner 54 is reduced by the fact that the controlled atmosphere in the annealer chamber 28 removes wire-drawing com ound from the wire at the temperature encountered in the annealer chamber 28. These temperatures are preferably within the range of 1000-1200" F. 1

It will be understood that the electrolytic cleaner 54 can be replaced by any conventional wire cleaner and that the electrolytic cleaner 54 is representative of wirecleaning means and is the preferred embodiment. As the wire 10b leaves the cleaner 54, it passes over guide means 56 and travels downwardly in a tank 58 which contains wet paper pulp 60. A drum 62, which rotates on an axle 64, has its lower portion immersed in the wet paper pulp 60. The wire 10b travels around the drum 62 and picks up a heavy coating on the wet paper pulp. This coated wire is indicated in FIG. 1 by the reference character 100.

As the coated wire 10c comes out of the tank 58, it passes between squeeze rolls 70 which squeeze most of the water out of the wet paper pulp and form a ribbon of paper insulation 72 (FIG. 3) having edge portions 74 and 75 of paper extending outward on either side of the conductor. The wire conductor with the paper insulation is indicated by the reference character 10d.

The wire 10d then passes through a polishing head 80 in which rotating elements wrap the edge portions 74 and 75 around the circumference of the wire, as illustrated by the successive steps shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. There are various refinements for obtaining a more effective adhesion of the seams formed by the paper ribbons, but these are not a part of the present invention. The wire 10d is withdrawn from the polishing head 80 by feed rolls 84.

An important feature of this invention is that the annealing is carried on as a continuous operation with the application of insulation to the wire. This requires coordination of the speed of travel of the wire through the annealer and the insulation-applying means. This coordination can be obtained in many ways and for a schematic illustration representative of such means, FIG. 1 shows a motor 86 having a speed control device 88 and mechanically connected by driving means with the drum 62, the squeeze rolls 70 and the capstan 48. These driving means include speed reducers 90 and connecting shafts 92 with gearing 94 where necessary to change the direction of application of the power from the motor 86. The speed reducers are preferably adjustable to obtain accurate correlation of speed of the different elements. It will be understood that other driving means, such as the capstan 24 and the feed rolls 84, can be similarly operated from the motor 86, or by any other power means for obtaining the desired correlation of speed of the different units which control the progress of the wire through the various units of the apparatus and with the desired tension. The particular mechanical driving means employed form no part of this invention.

The preferred embodiment of the invention has been illustrated and described, but changes and modifications can be made and some features can be used in different combinations without departing from the invention as defined in the claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In the manufacture of electrically insulated wire from wire pulled from spools at a payoff station and with reduced breakage of wire, the method which comprises paying off bare wire in the hardened condition resulting from drawing of the wire to the desired diameter, advancing the hard wire by force applied to the wire in directions that withdraw the hard wire from the payoff station and discharge the Wire toward subsequent operating apparatus including apparatus that applies electrical insulation to the wire, and annealing the wire downstream from the location where said force is applied to the wire to pull it from the payoff station and between the payingofi operation and the applying of the insulation, the annealing being performed by applying heat to the wire along a predetermined length of its path of travel between the paying-off operation and the applying of the insulation and as a continuous operation therewith.

2. The method described in claim 1 including drawing the wire to a desired diameter with wire-drawing compound on the wire, spooling the wire in a work-hardened condition as it comes from the wire-drawing operation and with the wire-drawing compound on the wire, subsequently supplying separate units 'of the wire to a payoff station of apparatus for supplying electrical insulation to the wires withdrawn from said separate units, pulling the wires from the separate units at the payoff station to an annealing station while the wires are hard and of high tensile strength, and applying controlled force to the annealed wires that come from the annealing station to advance the separate wires through the annealing station and to and through a station at which the insulation is applied to the wires.

3. The continuous process of making insulated electrical conductors from wire pulled from spools at a payoff station and with reduced breakage of wire, which method comprises supplying the wire from the spools in a hardened condition and with high tensile strength, pulling the hardened wire from the payoff station by force applied to the wire in directions that withdraw the hard wire from the payoff station and discharge the wire toward subsequent operating apparatus including an insulation applying station, and annealing the continuously moving wire downstream from the location where said force has been applied to the wire to pull it from the payoff station and before the Wire reaches the insulation applying station, whereby breakage of wire is avoided in pulling the wire from the payoff station.

4. The method described in claim 3 including applying wet paper pulp to the wire at the insulation applying station, squeezing excess water out of the pulp to form a ribbon of paper insulation surrounding the wire and with an edge portion of the ribbon of the paper insulation projecting from one side of the wire along the full length thereof, wrapping the edge portion of the ribbon circumferentially around the wire, correlating the length and heating effect of the annealing operation with the application of the insulation for travel of the wire through the annealing station and said insulation applying station at the same speed.

5. The method described in claim 3 including heating the annealing station, including a space at said station, through which the wire passes with gas-fired burners that supply a controlled atmosphere for said space.

6. The method described in claim 3 including controlling the heating of the annealing station and the speed of travel 'of the Wire to coordinate the speed of travel of the wire with the heat intensity of the annealing station.

7. The method described in claim 3 including pulling Wire from a plurality of spools of hard wire at the payolf, guiding the wires from the separate spools of hard wire to the annealing station, advancing the separate wires from the spools and over guiding means to an entrance end of the annealing station, supplying a controlled atmosphere for the annealing station, applying other pulling force to the wire beyond the annealing station at a rate to obtain a controlled tension through the annealing station, guiding the separate wires from the annealing station to the insulation applying station, and applying other feeding force to the wires for advancing the separate wires through the insulation applying station, and coordinating the speeds of the various feeding forces that advance the wire.

8. The method described in claim '7 including applying insulation to the separate wires while passing the wires in parallel relation to one another through, wet paper pulp that adheres to the individual wires, squeezing the in- 6 dividual wires to remove excess water from the pulp and to form a ribbon of paper insulation surrounding each wire and with an edge portion oi the ribbon of paper projecting from one side of each wire along the full length thereof, and wrapping the edge portions of the ribbons circumferentially around the wires, correlating the length and heating elfect of the annealing station with the application of insulation at the insulation applying station for travel of the wires through the annealing station an insulation applying station at the same speed.

9. The method described in claim 3 including supplying to the annealing station a controlled atmosphere which removes wire-drawing compound from the wire at the temperature of the annealing station.

10. The method described in claim 9 including cleaning the wire with an electrolytic Wire cleaner along the path of the wire and through which the wire passes on its way from the annealing station to the insulation applying station.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,327,256 8/1943 Fowle et al. 148-l2.4 3,647,565 3/1972 Schroerner 148-ll.5A

RICHARD O. DEAN, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R.. 148-42, 13, 156 

